The Definition of Sirius
by Audrianna13
Summary: Harry is digging through his trunk and finds a list of spelling words from primary school with the definitions written out beside them. And who can guess what number seven on the list is?


**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. JKR does.

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**September 29, 1990**

Ten-year-old Harry Potter sat in his homeroom class in primary school, his eyes skimming over the words in the dictionary lying flat out in front of him. His pencil was poised over the sheet of paper with all the words his class was learning that week, ready to copy down the definition of the word he was currently searching for.

'_Serine'…'seringa'…'seriocomic'…ah! 'Serious'!_

The boy's eyes narrowed slightly at the lengthy entry under the word before he chose the second definition as the best and the one he could most understand.

'_Serious – a) meaning what one says or does; not joking or trifling; sincere.' _he wrote. Then, just to be thorough, he added, _'b) meant in earnestness; not said or done in play.'_

He scanned over his carefully jotted definition and compared it to the one in the book. Then, satisfied, he moved onto the next spelling word.

'_Flammable'? I wonder what that means…_

**August 13, 1995**

Harry was digging through his trunk in an attempt to locate the bottle of ink he _knew _he had left in there when his hand brushed across something distinctly paper-like. His brow crinkled – why was there Muggle paper in his trunk for Hogwarts?

He rolled his eyes. It must have been swept into his trunk along with all of the other stuff when Tonks had 'packed.'

The black-haired wizard reached into his trunk and removed the slightly crumpled paper. He smoothed it out and realized that it was a list of words and definitions that, from the date, was from when he was in his fifth year of primary school. It was obviously preparation for a spelling test later in the week.

His eyes roved down the page, and then one word jumped out at him. He read the definitions of it. For a moment he just stood there, processing it and comparing it to his godfather as he had been in the past and how he was in the present, and then a laugh bubbled up and burst out.

Harry laughed for a few minutes before catching his breath and smirking mischievously. He wandered down the stairs and into the kitchen where Remus was sitting where the black-haired wizard had left him, still finishing his breakfast.

"Find your ink?" Remus asked mildly, his eyes still fixed on the book in front of him.

"No," Harry said. "But I found something better."

Harry slid the paper in front of Remus. The werewolf looked down on it, slightly puzzled.

"What is this?" he asked. "A list of random words and definitions?"

"It was from when I was in my fifth year of primary school," said Harry. "It was to help us study for a spelling test." Then, because Remus didn't seem to get what he was trying to point out, the black-haired wizard said helpfully, "Look at number seven."

The werewolf's eyes dropped down. He, too, took a moment to absorb the word and its definition before he calmly set down his book and buried his head in his arms, shoulders shaking with mirth as he silently laughed.

Just then, Sirius himself walked into the kitchen.

"Whoa," he said, blinking rather comically. "What's wrong with Moony?"

Harry pointed to the list, still smirking slightly. "Number seven," he said.

Sirius strode over, cast a concerned look at Remus, picked up the list, and read it.

"Funny," he said dryly after a moment. "Really amusing."

But his lips were twitching and his eyes were alight with amusement.

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**A/N: I know you lot prolly don't care, but isn't it weird where inspiration comes from? There I was, just minding my own business and thinking of how it had been waaaaay too long since I had posted anything for TCTY (I still need to get the next chapter up...*sighs*), and then my thoughts turned to me apologizing and using Merlin as an exclamation (because I'm such an HP freak), which led to thinking about other weird things I do as an HP freak, which led to the Sirius/serious pun, which led to me trying to think of the definition (which I didn't know word-for-word at the time, just the general concept, you know?), which...led to this fic.**

**I know you probably didn't care about that long rant-thing up there, but I do hope you enjoyed the fic. Even if it _is _really short.  
**


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